About this Event
Carole Hopson is a Boeing 737 captain for United Airlines, based in Newark, New Jersey. After a twenty-year career as a journalist and executive for iconic brands like the National Football League, Foot Locker, and L’Oréal, Carole followed her dream to become a pilot. A century after Bessie Coleman soared over seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Black women in the U.S. account for less than one percent of all professional pilots. Inspired by Bessie’s spellbinding accomplishments, Carole founded the Jet Black Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to sending one hundred Black women to flight school by the year 2035.
In her book A PAIR OF WINGS, airline captain Carole Hopson has crafted a riveting, adventure-filled debut novel based on the remarkable true story of pioneer aviatrix Bessie Coleman, a Black woman who received her pilot’s license almost two years before Amelia Earhart, and found freedom in the air. Hopson was so inspired by Bessie’s story, she became a pilot herself at the age of 54.
Bessie Coleman, the daughter of a woman born into slavery, Bessie answers the call of the Great Migration and moves to Chicago, where she wins the backing of two wealthy, powerful Black men—Robert Abbott, creator and publisher of the Chicago Defender, and Jesse Binga, the founder of Chicago’s first Black bank. Abbott becomes her mentor, while Binga becomes her lover. Her true first love, though, remains flying.... For each Ticket purchased you will receive the book A PAIR OF WINGS !
Additional Praise for Carole Hopson’s A PAIR OF WINGS
“Bessie Coleman was a pioneering aviatrix who, in the early part of the twentieth century, was forced to travel to France to learn to fly, as no one in the U.S. would give a Black woman lessons. Her thrilling true story makes for an exciting, inspiring work of fiction in Hopson’s hands. This may be the author’s first novel, but as a professional pilot herself, she takes the tale and soars with it.”—Leigh Haber, founding books director of Oprah Daily and former head of Oprah’s Book Club
You will not want to miss this dynamic speaker!
Silent Auction begins @ 10:30AM; Event starts at 11:30AM
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Saint Kate - The Arts Hotel, 139 East Kilbourn Avenue, Milwaukee, United States
USD 108.55
